Vixen issue overshadows major new plans for Strasbourg Square
Friday, 12th December 2014.
Councillors have asked officers to look into ways of tidying up the derelict former Vixen pub which they say will detract from proposals to improve neighbouring Strasbourg Square.
The scheme for Strasbourg Square, the latest of several such proposals, would see the current trees removed as they have grown too big and are damaging the paving surface.
New, smaller, birch trees would be planted in their place along with a variety of measures to upgrade an area long thought to be in need of it.
St Edmundsbury Borough Council's Haverhill Area Working Party was shown the scheme yesterday by the council's parks and open spaces officer Damien Parker.
Members were generally supportive, particularly of changes made in response to comment from local people. Further consultation with retailers and residents around the square is to take place in the new year.
But Cllr Maureen Byrne said the 'eyesore' of a building which used to be the Vixen would be detrimental to the whole scheme, and asked if there was anything the council could do about it.
They were spending money on a major improvement, but something needed to be done about that building which was going to rack and ruin.
Council chief executive Ian Gallin agreed to look into it. A plan to turn the building into an undertakers was approved but has never been taken up, an now the building has been boarded up to stop youngsters getting in.
The scheme for Strasbourg Square, the latest of several such proposals, would see the current trees removed as they have grown too big and are damaging the paving surface.
New, smaller, birch trees would be planted in their place along with a variety of measures to upgrade an area long thought to be in need of it.
St Edmundsbury Borough Council's Haverhill Area Working Party was shown the scheme yesterday by the council's parks and open spaces officer Damien Parker.
Members were generally supportive, particularly of changes made in response to comment from local people. Further consultation with retailers and residents around the square is to take place in the new year.
But Cllr Maureen Byrne said the 'eyesore' of a building which used to be the Vixen would be detrimental to the whole scheme, and asked if there was anything the council could do about it.
They were spending money on a major improvement, but something needed to be done about that building which was going to rack and ruin.
Council chief executive Ian Gallin agreed to look into it. A plan to turn the building into an undertakers was approved but has never been taken up, an now the building has been boarded up to stop youngsters getting in.
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